Lily Allen’s seemingly improbable sudden rise to pop stardom could only happen in this day and age: an ambitious young singer signs with a major label, refuses the label’s suggestion to go the pre-fab pop route, posts her demos online, routinely writes personable (and often hilarious) anecdotes on her blog, and quickly wins over thousands of fans on the internet, forcing the music media to follow suit and her record label to scramble to get a product in stores.
A mere eight months after she first put her songs on the internet, Lily Allen is the biggest female pop star in the UK right now: she has a number one single under her belt, has appeared on the cover of the NME, and her much-ballyhooed debut album is set to top the UK charts and become one of the biggest records of the summer. Not a bad start for a cheeky 21-year-old with just a handful of live performances behind her and a penchant for slamming everyone from Sven-Goran Eriksson to Carl Barat on her blog.